LONDON — The recent African summit at the United Nations could not conceal the number of failed states in Africa.
For years there has been no effective government in much of Somalia. We, who live under the rule of law, can hardly imagine what it must be like to be in a country where there is no authority capable of stopping intimidation, robbery and violence.
The position in Zimbabwe under the "presidency" of Robert Mugabe is little better. The government regularly flouts the laws and the security forces behave with deliberate brutality. Inflation is out of control. Millions of Zimbabwe currency notes will hardly pay for a bus fare or a loaf of bread. Three to four million people have fled from Zimbabwe to neighboring countries while some 70 to 80 percent of people of working age have no fixed employment. In a country that had one of the richest agricultural areas in Africa, people are starving. Expectation of life has declined significantly to around 37 years.